If you read my article on playing the waiver wire game, you know that it is an essential part of winning your fantasy football league. If you haven’t read it, what are you waiting for? I just told you it’s a necessary part of winning your fantasy football league! Why do you hate winning? One of the best ways to maximize your weekly scoring is to stream defenses. This strategy is simple: we aren’t as concerned with strong defenses as we are with finding defenses that play terrible offenses. Bad offenses are more likely to keep playing badly because if they knew how to be good, they would already be good. Based on this flawless logic, I will highlight the best streaming options each week.
Cincinnati Bengals DEF (29% owned) @ Pittsburgh Steelers
The Bengals are the team that I want to stream most this week, even though they let me down last week. They rank third in my streamer model, and it’s easy to see why. They are the DST5 on the season, averaging 7.8 points per game, and have the fourth-most sacks and eighth-most turnovers. The Steelers have allowed the fourth-most sacks, so this is the type of matchup that can create explosive plays for the defense. This is the type of high-risk/high-reward defensive matchup that I love to target for streaming.
Kansas City Chiefs DEF (51% owned) @ Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons give up the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing defenses, and Kansas City is DST11. The Falcons have the second-most turnovers in football, and this feels like the type of game where Penix throws multiple picks; in other words, a normal Michael Penix game. The Chiefs are sixth in my defensive streamer model.
Green Bay Packers DEF (61% owned) @ Minnesota Vikings
If you somehow are unable to get the Bengals and the Chiefs, hopefully the Packers are around. Those who read this article last week might even have them rostered after I recommended them and they finished with a top-five finish. The Packers are DST6 on the season, and the Vikings are just inept on offense. Maybe Kirko Chainz will suddenly make the Vikings able to pass block, but I will need to see it to believe it.
